The Financial Cost of Texting and Driving

I don’t consider myself a soapbox preacher, but the issue of texting and driving is one of those that gets me going. It frustrates me to no end that people think those little messages are so important that they are worth endangering lives over. Of course, the problem is that no one really believes they’re endangering anyone. “I know what I’m doing,” and “It won’t happen to me” are the mantras of the texters.

This is what my neighbor thought, too, until the day she was checking a text and plowed into the back of the vehicle in front of her. The car in front stopped suddenly to avoid a kid that ran into the crosswalk. Had my neighbor been paying attention, she could have stopped in time. Since she wasn’t… Bam. No one was killed, but the driver of the other car was hurt and my neighbor hurt her neck and back.

People always talk about the human cost of texting and driving; the lives lost, the injuries, the disabilities. This is all tragic and reason enough to stop texting and driving. But few talk about the monetary costs. These can be just as devastating. From talking to my neighbor, it looks like she’s dug a financial hole for herself that will bury her for quite some time to come. Here’s brief listing of her new problems.

Insurance Dropped

Her insurance company immediately dropped her and no other carrier will take her. In a state where you must carry at least liability insurance to operate a vehicle, this essentially means that she can no longer drive. She now must use public transportation or find a carpool to get to work and run errands. (And since where we live has a cruddy public transportation system and very little is within walking distance, she’s likely going to have to move closer to the center of town.) She might qualify for insurance several years from now, but it’s going to be at much higher rates. Unless she can figure out a suitable arrangement soon, she’s going to put her job in jeopardy. If she does find an arrangement, she’ll have to foot the costs for public transit or moving to a location within walking distance to work.

Car Totaled

Her car was totaled. The car was, of course, worth less than what she still owed on it. The insurance company paid $18,300, but she owes $25,800 (I think this might be due to having some older loans rolled into the current loan). She now has to come up with $7,500 on her own to pay off the lender. At least she doesn’t have to also buy a new car right away, since she can’t drive.

The Fine

Aside from everything else, she has to pay the $100 fine for texting and driving, plus court costs. Seems pretty minor compared to the rest of it.

Lawsuit

My neighbor is being sued by the person she hit (or their insurance company, I’m not sure which). Her insurance only covered a portion of the injuries to the other driver, so the driver is suing for the difference, plus lost wages, the damages to their car, “distress,” and other nebulous claims that could result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. Since my neighbor doesn’t have an umbrella policy, she’s going to have to pay for any judgment out of pocket. Even if she wins, she’s still going to have to pay hefty legal fees to get out of this mess.

Injuries to Herself

While her insurance is picking up the tab for her injuries, she’s got a $5,000 deductible to meet before they kick in with 100% coverage. Should she lose her job and her health insurance, future treatments might not be affordable at all. The best she could hope for might be to buy COBRA insurance, but COBRA is often prohibitively expensive.

Lost Wages

She’s having to deal with missed work due to her injuries. She doesn’t have a disability insurance policy, so if she can no longer work, she’s not going to have an income. Right now she’s used all of her vacation and sick leave, so she’s not getting paid and she’s on the good grace of her employer who has not terminated her employment. Yet. Should she be unable to work or her employer needs more than she can do, her employer will have no choice but to let her go.

License Suspended

Not like it really matters, since with no insurance she can’t drive, but her license was suspended for 120 days. To get it back, she’ll have to attend a driving class which will cost about $200.

Permanent Record

All of this is going to be on her record for years. It may negatively impact her applications for credit and jobs even years from now.

Today my neighbor is in the hole for at least $12,800. Those are the only costs she knows about today. That doesn’t count the lost wages, any moving or public transportation costs, potential job loss, COBRA payments, long-term medical care, the long-term dings on her credit and driving records, or the results of the lawsuit. For someone who only makes an average income, this is devastating. And it all could have been avoided if she’d just left the phone alone.

So even if you don’t worry about killing or injuring someone when you text and drive, you might want to at least worry about the financial costs of texting and driving. Even if you manage not to kill someone, the amount of money you can lose is the kind that can permanently derail your dreams and make it so you can never retire or have the things and experiences you want in life.

3 Responses to The Financial Cost of Texting and Driving

Any carelessness while driving is bad and your friend’s predicament just proves it. I was almost killed last week when a woman was running a red light in her big black SUV vs. my 13 year old rusty van. With no working AC in my van I had the window down and thankfully heard the zoom of her car and slammed on the breaks prior to her seeing me and stopping herself. I was not the the first car to go when my lane got the green light, I was second so she obviously wasn’t paying attention at all for her not to notice another car had driven in fornt of her. In 30 minutes I saw 3 idiot drivers. One being a school bus going against traffic in a construction zone. We were following a pilot car when suddenly around 10 cars were faced with a shool bus going against traffic and taking up the major portion of an already skinny space. The amazing thing to me was once she saw she was in the wrong, she didn’t stop, but just kept going. We called the school superindent and the bus garage and turned her in. She at the very least got a dressing down, but it could have been worse as they didn’t tell us what they decided to do about her. Sure I could have tried to forget about seeing this happening, but after the close call minutes earlier, I was tired of seeing drivers doing insane things.

Not necessarily casued by driving and texting, but not paying attention. I wonder if your friend will ever even want to use that phone again. We lived without cell phones 20 years ago. Why do people think they have to be on them non-stop now? I still don’t have one.